BF2S Forums Red-light cameras can save lives

This sounds like a case where the government could/should operate them themselves?  I'm not for big-government, but paying a company ~$4000 per camera per month seems absurdly wasteful...

Edit: Though, if revenue is the problem, someone could argue that a dead tax payer is lost revenue...

Last edited by SenorToenails (2008-04-13 22:15:44)

Apparently government outsourcing is all the rage.  FAA outsources the flight services, military doing their obvious outsourcing, this story, etc...

ATG wrote:

[OP]

I've noticed that in the Pacific Northwest. You always see crews out dinking with those things, and ever since they've been installed the time it takes to go from yellow to red has shortened, causing no end to serious accidents I've almost been in due to people either accelerating through at dangerous speeds or slamming on their brakes.

The cube van I drive around is a juggernaut, so I go ahead and just slip on through if it suddenly turns yellow, because even below the speed limit, I'd end up in the intersection in many occasions if I tried to stop before it hit red. So far, I've been lucky, but plenty of other people I know or work with have been hit with tickets, and sometimes even by mistake (after all, machines aren't perfect). Fortunately for the city penny pinchers around here, most of them don't have the time to argue about it and just send in the fee.

Around here, I believe this has been done to make up for lost 'income' from failed levies and tax bills that people angrily vote down (not that the latter always does any good). You can almost feel a tangible aura of petty vengeance when garden islands and pavement-destroying trees are smugly planted in the middle of boulevards, or new schools, police stations or city halls get the Taj Mahal treatment in spite of funding 'shortages.'

SenorToenails wrote:

Edit: Though, if revenue is the problem, someone could argue that a dead tax payer is lost revenue...

Not really. There's a few taxes for that, too.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2008-04-13 22:55:26)

Do you have many speed cameras in the states?

FEOS wrote:

Pubic wrote:

Do you have many speed cameras in the states?

First I ever saw them here was in DC.

If the government feels that something needs to be implemented to ensure the safety of the people (one of government's specified functions), then it should manage that function itself. Outsourcing government functions only shows that those functions don't need to be performed by government.

With the help of Taiwanese semiconductors.

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

FEOS wrote:

Pubic wrote:

Do you have many speed cameras in the states?

First I ever saw them here was in DC.

If the government feels that something needs to be implemented to ensure the safety of the people (one of government's specified functions), then it should manage that function itself. Outsourcing government functions only shows that those functions don't need to be performed by government.

With the help of Taiwanese semiconductors.

function =/= electronic components

chittydog wrote:

BN wrote:

outsource the goverment

Good idea, I hear they have cheap labor in China. Let's send it over there.

Since your passports are already being made there, it would be the next logical step. Subcontracting can improve efficiency, and reduce costs. And we all know that government bureaucracy is in dire need of both...

In an ironic twist of fate...I just got a speeding ticket in the mail today. From a camera.

Fuckers.